Jeremy Denk to Join LA Chamber Orch for PIANO FEST, 5/17-18

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO)'s 45th season concludes with a veritable piano "festival" as Jeremy Denk, "a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs" (The New York Times), returns for a command performance on Saturday, May 17, 2014, 8 pm, at Glendale's Alex Theatre, and Sunday, May 18, 2014, 7 pm, at UCLA's Royce Hall. Denk, artistic director of the 2014 Ojai Music Festival, is featured on selections from Ligeti's Etudes for Piano, Book I & II, as well as Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major. From the keyboard, LACO Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, an acclaimed pianist, conducts Bach's Concerto No. 2 in C major for Two Keyboards, and Mozart's Concerto No. 10 in E-flat major for Two Pianos. He is joined by 12-year-old prodigy Ray Ushikubo for the Bach and LA Phil Keyboardist Joanne Pearce Martin for the Mozart.

Denk has built a reputation as an unusual and compelling artist, with a broad and thought-provoking repertoire. He is also known for his witty and personal music writing, which has appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, Newsweek and on the website of NPR Music. He was awarded the 2014 Avery Fisher Prize, Musical America's 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year award and the 2013 MacArthur "Genius Grant."

Martin, who made her LACO debut in 2006, performs around the globe as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist. The Los Angeles Times hails her for her "propulsive, interactive pianism" and describes her playing as having "unusual fervor and fluency."

An exuberant artist exhibiting an innate musicality well beyond his years, Japanese-American pre-teen pianist and violinist Ray Ushikubo has performed at Carnegie Hall and on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He has also appeared with world-renowned pianist Lang Lang at Segerstrom Concert Hall and as a piano soloist and chamber performer during performances at two LACO galas.

Concert Preludes, pre-concert talks held one hour before curtain and free for ticket holders, provide insights into the music and artists. Ticket holders are invited to celebrate the final concert of the 2013-14 season with musicians at an after-party in the lobby with complimentary appetizers and drinks.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra is considered one of the world's premier chamber orchestras as well as a leader in presenting wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous commissions. Its 2013-14 season, the Orchestra's 45th, features a compelling mix of beloved masterpieces and genre-defying premieres from firmly established as well as notable up-and-coming composers programmed by Jeffrey Kahane, one of the world's foremost conductors and pianists, who concludes his 17th season as LACO's music director.

Tickets, starting at $25, are on sale now and may be purchased online at laco.org, by calling LACO at 213 622 7001. Discounted tickets are also available by phone for seniors 65 years of age and older and groups of 12 or more. College students may purchase student rush tickets ($10), based on availability, at the box office the day of the concert. Also available for college students is the $25 "Campus to Concert Hall All Access Pass" - good for all seven of LACO's Orchestral series concerts, Discover Beethoven's Eroica and three Westside Connections concerts.

Equally at home at the keyboard and on the podium, JEFFREY KAHANE has established an international reputation as a truly versatile artist, recognized around the world for his mastery of diverse repertoire ranging from Bach, Mozart and Beethoven to Gershwin, Golijov and John Adams. The 2013-14 season marks Kahane's 17th season as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's music director. He previously served as music director of the Colorado and Santa Rosa symphonies. He has garnered tremendous critical acclaim for his innovative programming and commitment to education and community involvement and received multiple ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming for his work in both Los Angeles and Denver. In addition to his programs and projects with LACO, recent and upcoming engagements include appearances at the Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, Blossom, Music@Menlo, Chamber Music Northwest and Oregon Bach festivals; recitals in Salt Lake City, Scottsdale, Carmel and at the Laguna Beach Festival; concerto performances with the Toronto, Indianapolis, Houston, Oregon and Colorado symphonies and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; play/conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco, National, Vancouver, Seattle and New Jersey symphonies; and conducting the New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra in Boston and the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center. Kahane's recent and upcoming European engagements include play/conduct programs with the Camerata Salzburg, Hamburg Symphony and the Real Filharmonía de Galicia in Spain as well as appearances at the Meck-Pomm Chamber Music Festival in Germany.

American pianist JEREMY DENK has steadily built a reputation as an unusual and compelling artist with a broad and thought-provoking repertoire. In 2013, he became a MacArthur Grant recipient and was named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America, and in 2014, was awarded the Avery Fisher prize. He has appeared as soloist with many major orchestras in the USA and abroad and regularly gives recitals around the United States. He looks forward to his tenure as artistic director of the 2014 Ojai Music Festival, for which he is also composing the libretto to a semi-satirical opera. His debut recording for Nonesuch Records included music by Ligeti and Beethoven; he recorded Bach's Goldberg Variations for the label in January 2013.

Principal keyboard player of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, JOANNE PEARCE MARTIN has performed on four continents. In Southern California she has appeared on the L.A. Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series and at the Chamber Music Society, Camerata Pacifica, South Bay Chamber Music Society and the Ojai, Mainly Mozart and San Luis Obispo Mozart festivals. She has also premiered 13 new works with Pacific Serenades. Martin has made numerous solo appearances with the L.A. Philharmonic on piano, harpsichord, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ, and is also a member of the L.A. Phil Piano Trio. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Martin has performed as a soloist with such orchestras as the Philadelphia Orchestra and England's Huddersfield Philharmonic. She is in great demand as a collaborative artist and has given joint recitals with such renowned artists as Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Iona Brown, Aaron Rosand, Joseph Silverstein and Julius Baker. Additionally, Martin and her husband, Gavin Martin, often perform together on two pianos.

Among numerous highlights, twelve-year-old Japanese-American pianist and violinist RAY USHIKUBO this season performs solo piano at the Los Angeles Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) for a peace ceremony honoring Hiroshima atomic bomb victims, and appears with the Academy Virtuosi Orchestra, and as a piano guest artist feature for What Makes It Great? with Rob Kapilow at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. Last season he was a guest soloist for three Symphonic Adventures Programs for the New West Symphony Orchestra. In 2011-12, Ushikubo made his orchestral solo debut at the Young Musicians' Foundation Gala Concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. He also received a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artists awards during his appearance on From the Top, with pianist and host Christopher O'Riley. Other top prizes include the 2012 Colburn Academy Steinway Prize, a 2009 Gold Prize at the AADGT International Music Competition for piano and violin, resulting in his Carnegie Hall debut, and First Prize in the Young Artists piano division at the 2013 Mondavi Young Artists Competition. Ushikubo began his studies at age five and is now a student at The Colburn Young Artists Academy, where he studies piano with Ory Shihor and violin with Robert Lipsett and Danielle Belen. His other interests include math, wakeboarding and Mercedes Benz automobiles.

PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Wilson